Metal finishing Q&As since 1989

-----

Increasing wear resistance of aluminum

Hello,

Increasing the wear resistance of aluminum. I am a small company that designs and manufactures sporting goods. I need to increase the wear resistance of a sliding shaft and spline that are manufactured from 6061 & 7075 aluminum and then hardcoat anodized. This is not yielding satisfactory results. The anodized wears through and chips off prematurely. Is there some other process that will give me better results without increasing the cost dramatically? i.e., Nickel plating or brass plating .....

Sincerely,

Tom Koenig
- Lakewood, CO USA
2001

---

Hardcoat anodizing offers exceptional hardness and excellent wear resistance, and should not chip. However, any time you make mating surfaces out of materials of similar hardness you can run into trouble, and aluminum-on-aluminum surfaces have a propensity to snag and gall. There are proprietary lubricants and TFE coatings that purport to solve the problem, and that might be the most straightforward resolution.

Must this joint run "dry"?

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2001

---

Since we have no clue as to what the part is, my guess is that it is flexing. Anodize is very hard and very brittle.

If not, consider electroless nickel plating the easiest/smallest of the two. Virtually eliminates the galling that Ted referred to.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
2001

Hardcoat Anodizing is hard. Hardness is measured using an "ice pick" type test. Hardcoat anodize has terrible lubricity or sliding wear.Electroless Nickel is an excellent candidate for giving aluminum wear resistance in applications where hardcoat anodize will not hold up.

Todd Osmolski
- Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
2001

Hardcoat it by anodisation process or oxidised it, it won't cost too much, if you want to have better result , coat it with CNTs after anodising or oxidation.

Arnab Guha
- Kolkata, West Bengal, India
May 8, 2009